Posted On: Thursday, March 21, 2024
The first full moon of the spring season will appear on the nights of Sunday, March 24, and Monday, March 25. Specifically, March’s full Worm Moon reaches peak illumination at 3:00 A.M. ET on Monday, March 25, 2024.
Of course, you don’t have to wait until the middle of the night to see the Moon! Look for the spectacularly bright Moon as it rises above the horizon on Sunday evening. If your weather is poor on Sunday night, try again on Monday! See when the Moon will be visible in your area.
The full Moon names used by The Old Farmer’s Almanac come from a number of places, including Native American, Colonial American, and European sources. Traditionally, each full Moon name was applied to the entire lunar month in which it occurred, not only to the full Moon.
March’s full Moon goes by the name Worm Moon. For many years, we thought this name referred to the earthworms that appear as the soil warms in spring. This invites robins and other birds to feed—a true sign of spring!
However, more research revealed another explanation. In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver visited the Naudowessie (Dakota) and other Native American tribes and wrote that the name Worm Moon refers to a different sort of “worm”—beetle larvae—which begin to emerge from the thawing bark of trees and other winter hideouts at this time.
Location: L.E. Shore Library